The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for balloon limiting at a bobbin creel, also referred to in the art as an anti-ballooning apparatus.
The anti-ballooning apparatus of the invention, which limits the formation of thread balloons at a bobbin creel, is arranged, in each case, between a bobbin which is mounted or donned onto a bobbin holder of the creel and the thread guide and thread monitoring device operatively associated with such bobbin and prevents contact and/or entanglement of the thread balloon which is formed during withdrawal of the threads from the bobbins of the creel.
Modern high production warping plants enable high operating speeds, without straining or rough handling the threads by excessive thread tension. Apart from the strength of the thread or the like, also predominantly responsive for the maximum speeds which can be employed are the operating conditions which constitute some of the most important parameters governing the maximum speed of operation. Thus, for instance, the formation of ballons when working with coarse materials, especially coarse rotor yarns, particularly must be taken into account. Heretofore known anti-ballooning and constricting devices, as a general rule, are located at the region of the bobbins or between the bobbin and tensioner. Depending upon the nature of the device they can hinder the visual and manual access to the bobbins, such as, for instance, the donning and doffing of the bobbins during batch or good change operations, the location of empty running bobbins as well as the removal of a thread rupture.
Frequently, the heretofore known anti-ballooning apparatuses are dependent upon the pitch or distribution of such equipment, so that different bobbins, different bobbin numbers and different spacing between the bobbins, require different balloon limiting or anti-ballooning apparatuses. This requires maintaining in storage a multiplicity of anti-ballooning apparatuses. Hood-shaped balloon limiters additionally impair, to a great degree, the visual access of the machine, and furthermore, for each manipulation carried out at a bobbin frequently must be removed with considerable effect. This is equally so for the heretofore known balloon limiting ring, for instance as taught in Swiss Pat. No. 384,429. After performing the requisite manipulations it is additionally necessary, following the placement of the balloon limiter back into operation, to again thread-in with considerable effort the thread. The attachment elements for the individual balloon limiters frequently form at the region of the thread balloon projections and edges at which the thread can become caught or damaged and, further, at which contaminations can undesirably deposit.